Ohio leaders have strongly condemned a neo-Nazi demonstration that took place Saturday afternoon in Columbus, where a small group of marchers waved swastika flags and shouted racist slurs in the Short North neighborhood near downtown.
Footage provided to CNN affiliate WBNS shows approximately a dozen individuals clad in black clothing and red masks, their faces obscured, parading through the area. Some carried black flags bearing red swastikas while their leader shouted through a bullhorn. At least one marcher repeatedly yelled a racial slur as they walked past local businesses, cafés, and boutiques.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther denounced the event as a “cowardly display” and reaffirmed the city’s stance against hate and bigotry. “We will not allow any of our neighbors to be intimidated, threatened, or harmed because of who they are, how they worship, or whom they love,” he wrote on social media.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine also condemned the march, calling it a display of “vile and racist speech against people of color and Jews.” He emphasized, “There is no place in this state for hate, bigotry, antisemitism, or violence, and we must denounce it wherever we see it.”
This incident comes amid a broader rise in public displays of White nationalism and hate groups across the United States. The Anti-Defamation League reported a record 282 events organized or attended by White supremacists last year, including marches in cities such as Nashville, Boston, and Washington, DC. In Michigan earlier this month, neo-Nazis waved swastika flags outside a community theater production of The Diary of Anne Frank.
No arrests were made during the Columbus march, though police briefly detained some participants, according to WBNS. Community leaders quickly organized a unity march on Sunday in response to the demonstration, emphasizing solidarity and rejecting hate.
City Attorney Zach Klein took to social media to express outrage: “Take your flags and the masks you hide behind and go home and never come back. Your hate isn’t welcome in our city. This is not who we are, and we will not tolerate or normalize this disgusting ideology in any form.”